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Hydrocarbon Field Drilling

Drilling Steps

Extensive surveillance and investigation to study the potential well locations to ensure minimal impact on local communities.

Once selected, the wellsite is cleared and water and electricity sources supply the wellsite.

BNK does not dig pits to hold any effluent from the well. All effluent from the well is recovered in steel containers. Any pits which may be present on BNK wellsites are used to store fresh water only. In addition, the wellsite is built to ensure complete isolation from surface to the ground below via impermeable layers (view more information on wellsite construction).

A conductor pipe is installed to approximately 10-30 m to ensure ground stability near the surface hole.

The well is drilled to below any and all surface water aquifers. The surface casing is installed, cemented and pressure tested. Sophisticated tools are also run to ensure the cement is properly set in place. It is important to note that BNK does not utilize any toxic chemicals while drilling through any groundwater aquifers.

Drilling again continues to the target formation either as a vertical well or deviated into a horizontal well. Once the well has finished drilling and open hole logs have been completed, a third casing string (production casing) is installed and cemented in similar fashion as the other two casing strings.

Coring may be conducted when drilling through the target formation. Coring is a method of obtaining rock samples in order to perform further geological studies and help in designing the final hydraulic stimulation program

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Coring

Coring is a procedure that removes a cylindrical sample of the formation rock in order to have physical material for analysis and testing purposes. This entails using a core bit, a core barrel and core catcher to drill out a rock sample that is then brought up to the surface with the core barrel. The core bit has a hole in its center so when the coring procedure is undertaken it produces a small cylinder of rock.

The drilling rig is disassembled and removed from the wellsite.

Once the core and open hole logs have been fully analyzed and a hydraulic stimulation program is finalized, the equipment necessary to conduct the treatment are assembled on the wellsite.

The hydraulic stimulation is conducted in order to create small fractures within the shale rock formation. These fractures are kept open by the proppant (usually sand) in order to provide pathways for natural gas to flow to the well (See Hydraulic Stimulation for more information).

Following short term testing, which may involve burning (flaring) some natural gas at the wellsite, the equipment is removed and the well is evaluated further to determine whether it should be connected to the natural gas distribution system for sale of natural gas.

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About BNK Petroleum

BNK’s objective is to maximize the value of our existing U.S. shale gas operations, while continuing growth through the development of opportunities in other countries we considers to be prospects for shale gas and other hydrocarbons. We will achieve this by applying innovative and proven technologies lead by our experienced technical team.